BALTIMORE—The UMBC men’s and women’s swimming
and diving teams travel to Fairfax, Va., this weekend looking to
defend their Patriot Invitational titles. Last year, the men won
their fourth straight crown with 922.5 points, while the women took
home their second title in three years with 1,006 points.

Senior Eric Jones (Gambrills, Md./Arundel) will be
looking to defend his 200-yard freestyle crown, while fellow
senior Rebecca Godwin (Catonsville, Md./Notre Dame Prep)
will be looking to win the 1,650 free for the second year in a
row.

Both Retriever teams were listed
on CollegeSwimming.com’s Mid-Major Rankings. The men are
ranked sixth, believed to be the highest ranking ever, while the
women are ranked 23rd.

Several UMBC All-Time Top 10 times have already been achieved
this season, including sophomore Jennifer
Kotonias (Burtonsville, Md./Academy of Holy Cross), who has
produced the third-fastest 400 IM and 10th-fastest 200 fly,
freshman Johan Rohtla (Tallinn, Estonia/Tallinn Secondary
Science) with the fourth-fastest 200 back and ninth-fastest 100
back, and sophomore transfers Pierre De Waal (Pretoria,
South Africa/Tuks Sport/Cleveland State) and Claire
Barron (Lowestoft, England/Benjamin Britten/New Orleans) with
the 10th-fastest 1,000 free and 100 breast, respectively